Slidell, LA: Prosecutors won’t seek death for man, 25, accused of killing parents; he’s pleaded insanity

John Willis

SLIDELL, La. (AP) — St. Tammany Parish prosecutors say they won’t seek the death sentence against a Slidell man accused of bludgeoning his parents to death with a hammer.

John Claiborn Willis, 25, was not in court this week when Assistant District Attorney Nick Noriea told a state judge that he won’t ask for the death penalty if Willis is convicted on two counts of first-degree murder, The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/LEBdK0 ) reported.

Rick Wood, spokesman for the district attorney, declined to comment on the decision.

In February, Willis pleaded not guilty because of insanity to the murders of Lewis and Helen Willis, with whom he lived. At a sanity hearing in March, Judge Raymond Childress found him competent to stand trial.

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